The new year is just a few days away, which means spring training is coming, which means the start of the regular season is not that far behind it.

While the Rangers have been busy this offseason revamping their lineup that mysteriously evaporated in 2024—adding Joc Pederson, Jake Burger, and Kyle Higashioka—they have started to make progress in revamping their bullpen.

What they don’t have yet is a closer. Kirby Yates came out of nowhere in 2024 and had a remarkable season. He was 7-2 with a minuscule 1.17 ERA, saved thirty-three games, and was unhittable at times. His WHIP was 0.827. Anytime a pitcher’s WHIP begins with the number 0, he’s had a phenomenal year. Yates’s ERA+ of 340 puts a number to just how phenomenal it was. At age thirty-seven, Kirby Yates was nearly three-and-a-half-times better than the average reliever.

That’s what the Rangers are trying to replace. Or, if not that, someone they can count on. They won the World Series in 2023 largely on the unlikely resurgence of Jose Leclerc in the postseason, after a season of disaster. Leclerc reverted back to mostly disaster mode in 2024.

In the few days before the 2024 spring training began, Rangers General Manager snagged Yates and reliever David Robertson off the remaining free agency pile. Those two last-minute moves turned out to be brilliant.

Whether it’s resigning Yates or acquiring someone else, Young needs a repeat performance. The Rangers need a closer.